Shoppers’ perceptions on taste, calories and value are altered by what they read on the label, too, which researchers call “the health halo.”

The study recruited 115 shoppers in Ithaca, New York, and asked them to evaluate three pairs of products. One item in each food pair was labeled “regular” and and the other “organic” even though all the products were organic and identical. Shoppers were then asked to rate the taste and how much they would be willing to pay for the items they tried.

Results show that shoppers estimated that the organic offerings had fewer calories and were willing to pay up to 23.4 percent more for them.

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